New Crytek USA studio staffed with ex-Vigil employees

UPDATE: IGN confirms all 35 Crytek USA developers are former Vigil Games employees. The original story follows.

Pie-in-the-sky dreams, like Platinum Games buying up the Darksiders license and hiring some of its lead developers from Vigil Games, are well and good. But they don't mean a lot for the majority of Vigil staffers left out in the Austin, Texas heat after THQ's bankruptcy auction.

Fortunately for them, Crytek is forming a new studio in Austin, and former Vigil co-owner David Adams is its new CEO. Crytek USA's team of 35 developers will include many members of his former core staff at Vigil, according to a Crytek representative who spoke with Gamasutra.

"I’m thrilled to be a part of the newest Crytek studio, which will boast some of the brightest development talent in the industry," Adams said in a release. "The studio’s launch represents Crytek’s commitment to delivering diverse and high quality content to players everywhere.”

The reformed team will set to work on "new gaming experiences" based on the CryENGINE. Crytek USA's formation will bring the German-based company up to nine studios operating worldwide.

Crytek expanded both its ranks and intellectual property as a result of THQ's bankruptcy, having purchased the rights to the Homefront franchise at its assets auction. A Crytek-developed sequel has been in development for some time.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.